Amazon MP3

Two or more weeks ago Amazon made their MP3 store international, meaning that there is a UK store. I am a huge fan of iTunes and think it is the best thing to happen to music in the last 20 years. But I am open to trying new things so I went on over to amazon and bought a song. There are a few things that go into the process of buying a song the software and the website.

Website

The first thing that is anoying is that the url is all weird, you would think amazon.co.uk/mp3 would work but no this is the url.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/MP3-Music-Download/b/ref=topnav_storetab_dmusic?ie=UTF8&node=77197031

What the hell is going on! And not only the URL is horrible, trying to find a song is impossible, and if you have no idea of what you want then don’t even try. On the other hand the previews are good and stream well the songs are cheap and DRM free.

Software

The software is not pretty but does the job well, you will need to install it if downloading an album but singles can be done without the software. It can be set to put the song straight into iTunes which is very helpful if you use iTunes. You have to see the software as a tool not as the service, but it is by far the easiest part to do.

Service

When you purchase a song you have a limited time to download that song which can be a pain if you don’t, but customer service people are very efficient and helpful and will often let you download it later if needs be.

Overall

It is not something that will take the place of the iTunes store for me, but I will consider it when buying a song or an album, with some brand new albums costing £3. As a new site it has done well, but with a few improvements it could be some really competition for iTunes.